


Mutual Friend

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Apologies, Arguing, Banter, Challenges, Defeat, Distrust, Emotional Manipulation, Giving Up, Hangover, Heavy Drinking, Helpless Hound, Hopeful Ending, Insults, Jealousy, Major Character Injury, Movie Night, Multi, Mutual Friends, Nature, Outing, Plans For The Future, Protectiveness, Rejection, Setups, Street Racing, Surrendering, Unresolved Tension, Water, hopelessness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 03:06:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5231534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hound is growing very tired of the unresolved tension between Trailbreaker and Mirage, since he's the one taking the brunt of it. It's time he worked to change some things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mutual Friend

“Trailbreaker! Do you have some time today?”

Hound watched closely as Trailbreaker looked up at him. His optics were only a little bit glazed, so perhaps he’d caught his friend before he slipped into a complete overcharge.

“Sure, Hound. Prime’s left me off the latest mission roster. Why?”

Smiling brightly, Hound declared, “I think it’d be nice to have a day off, y’know, enjoying what Oregon has to offer! Does that sound alright?” He wasn’t sure if he was trying too hard, but he really wanted Trailbreaker to agree so he could set his long-prepared plan into motion.

Trailbreaker considered, his vents contracting with what Hound could rightly predict to be a deep sigh. He was going to start making excuses any nanoklik here, Hound realized disappointedly. Then, to his delight, Trailbreaker blinked a few times, lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug and smiled.

“Eh, why not? It’ll be nice to get out.”

Hound positively beamed at him, squeezing his shoulder appreciatively. “Great! I know a nice place to drive and talk if you want.”

This was the way in with Trailbreaker—a place to drive and a friend who wouldn’t judge if he went slowly. He nodded almost immediately, setting aside his energon cube and rising to his feet. “That sounds good.”

As they went for the doors, Hound lifted himself to full height so he could put an arm over Trailbreaker’s shoulders. “We could make it an all-day plan, Teebs. There’s great scenery and the road goes on for miles! It’s smooth, good for—”

“Hound!” Under normal circumstances, the sudden interruption might have startled the recon bot, but he had been anticipating this particular voice.

“Oh, hi, Mirage,” he greeted, pivoting to find the Towersmech had followed them toward the rec room doors, radiating indignation.

“Hound,” Mirage repeated, obviously trying to soften his vocals but failing. “We already made plans, remember? We’re going to use that racetrack near the city since no one is renting it today!”

Gasping theatrically, Hound pressed a hand to his chamfron. “Oh, scrap, I forgot. Umm…” He glanced at Trailbreaker, who had also turned around and was staring pointedly at Mirage, his visor flashing a darker color than usual.

A familiar sensation of helplessness stirred in Hound’s spark and processor. The unresolved tension between his two friends had been wearing on him for a while. At first it had started as a jealous tug-of-war, a wordless challenge of who would own more of Hound’s attention. Finally, when they realized Hound wouldn’t pick just one or the other, they relented and settled for a race: who would get to Hound first. That had been happening for four diuns now, but recently Hound had been given a bit more revelation into what Teebs and Raj were both misunderstanding.

In private moments, Trailbreaker had gone through five high-grade cubes before confessing that he didn’t trust Mirage to treat him as an equal Autobot because of the vast differences of rank in their pasts.

“If I…If I doubt m’own self-worth,” he mumbled, “why would an upper-class mech spare me any time? An’ who knows what he really, honestly thinks of _you_? He just came along and picked up a lower-caste mech—no offense—without a putdown? He better not be leadin’ you on like—like ye’re some _pet_ on a leash or so help me…” It was around that time he passed out.

Mirage had taken a while longer, but after a packet of nice rust sticks and a cube and a half, he stated solemnly that he disliked Trailbreaker simply because he was putting on airs in every situation.

“He creates illusions for all of the other Autobots and I’ll admit, he does it masterfully,” he proclaimed. “But I can see through it—to a very unhappy mech. If _he_ doesn’t want to accept who he is, why should _I_ bother trying? You, Hound, if you think something in your spark needs to change, you change it! He seems to feed off of your openness and I don’t like that in the least.”

Hound of the present ex-vented lightly, feeling a bit jittery despite the fact that he had set up this very scenario.

“Well, maybe you could come with us on our little outing, Mirage,” he ventured at last. “I was just telling Trailbreaker about a mountain road that’s been paved over…” He trailed off, his vocals going up by the slightest note and making it more of a question.

Mirage’s optics flickered down for a moment as he hesitated. Hound could sense Trailbreaker’s EM field intersecting with his, cold and motionless, waiting for a response. He kept his own field inert as well but still receptive.

“Alright,” Mirage agreed at last, sounding somewhat troubled but willing. Trailbreaker’s field withdrew from Hound’s, flattening against its owner. Hound strove for another smile and grabbed both of his friends’ arms, pulling them out with him.

They drove for several minutes before they reached the smooth mountain road Hound had hoped for. Mirage rose to bipedal mode, optics enlarging as he shaded them from the sun. “Ahh, it’s perfect, Hound! The stoplights here on Earth are so aggravating, but _this_ is a road to enjoy, free of restrictions!” With that he returned to alt. mode and revved his engine several times before speeding off.

Hound laughed, pleased that Mirage’s spirits had lifted. He followed the Towersmech’s example, his engine growling as he accelerated and his tires slid—they _slid!_ —over the warm pavement. About twenty or thirty yards forward, he jerked to an abrupt halt, remembering…

“You coming, Trailbreaker?” he called, internally cringing.

“Go ahead,” Trailbreaker retorted, his vocals brimming with what was probably supposed to be good humor but didn’t quite manage it. “I’ll, uh, I’ll catch up.”

No, no, no, he had to prevent this downward slide. Gearing into reverse, Hound guided himself back to Trailbreaker’s side. “Are you sure?” he questioned encouragingly. “You can come with me. Mirage’s probably long gone by now; I’m already beat. I’d be happy to drive with you.”

“I’m sure,” Trailbreaker said flatly, mutedly. “It’s fine, Hound, really. I’ll wait here for you to come back.”

“You’re…you’re not coming with us at all now?” Hound asked in dismay. Sighing harshly, Trailbreaker transformed with a sharp snapping of gears.

“Are you going to make me push you up the trail, Sarge? _Go!_ Mirage obviously wants to be with you and who am I to stop him?! You’d already made plans with him anyway, I was just the secondary.” Folding his arms, Trailbreaker moved away from Hound and settled himself on a rock.

 _Test #1 ends in failure_ , Hound thought with sadness, knowing that Teebs wouldn’t be moving anywhere until it was time to head home. Thus he rolled back toward the path, leaving Trailbreaker in a small puff of dust.

—

“I’m really sorry about yesterday,” he pleaded the next morning, trying to catch Trailbreaker’s optics and failing. “Can I at least try to make up for it? Another outing? I’ve already cleared it with Prime.”

Optimus had been rather relieved as soon as Hound explained what he was trying to accomplish.

“I must say, Hound, it’s about time,” their leader had stated, letting down his aura of grace for a minute or two. “The strain between them isn’t at all conducive to their field work, much less their relationships!”

“Oh, I’m well aware, sir,” Hound had wearily concurred.

Trailbreaker ultimately looked up, lips pursed. “Is Mirage going?” he muttered.

“I haven’t invited him,” Hound assured him, hoping he wouldn’t dig any further. He had already set up the rest of the details with Optimus—that the Prime would ask Mirage to patrol in the sector where he and Trailbreaker were going to be and they could conveniently run into each other.

“Fine, but it better not be some road trip like yesterday,” Trailbreaker surrendered.

“No, no, I was actually thinking we could go swimming!” Hound exclaimed, gesturing for him to follow.

When they reached the area Hound had decided on, Trailbreaker stood, mouth slightly agape as he took it in. Hound chuckled proudly, straightening next to him and hollering over the roar:

“I mean, what’s more fun for a couple of thick hides like ourselves than jumping off a waterfall?!”

The fall was quite a long one, tumbling in white-tinged bluish colors down the mountain like a gigantic waterspout. Trailbreaker peered hesitantly over the edge before taking a few brisk and healthy steps back.

“Hound, that pool the fall goes into…it’s all foamed up so I can’t see the bottom,” he admitted. “Are you sure you won’t overestimate the depth and break your legs?”

“Who says I’m going first?” Hound taunted. At Trailbreaker’s slightly alarmed expression, Hound waved him off, reassuring him, “Of course I won’t break my legs. I’ve been here plenty of times on my own! That’s good enough, right? Unless you’re feeling overprotective and want to put a force field bubble around me on my way down.”

Trailbreaker shook his helm in wonder before ducking it, trying to hide a grin. Hound lifted an eyebrow, striding confidently toward the rocks overhanging the edge. “Right here, Trailbreaker—this is where it all starts, obviously.” Settling himself down, he looked over his shoulder and fired off a salute. “See you at the bottom!”

With that he hurdled off, flailing through the rush of air into the natural pool below. Sure enough, the foam blinded Hound as soon as he was fully enveloped, so as he surfaced he narrowly avoided Trailbreaker’s frame landing on him as his friend plummeted down to meet him.

Laughing as he arose, Trailbreaker briefly disconnected his visor, emptying its ridges of the water that had collected. “That sure was something!” he shouted gleefully.

 _Oh, good, he’s feeling better already_ , Hound thought, nodding vigorously and pointing back to the top. “C’mon, let’s go again!” The sooner they got back up, the greater the chance that they’d be there for Mirage to discover.

When they reached the top, Hound glanced back the way they had come for a klik or two before yelping in alarm as Trailbreaker abruptly picked him up, tossing him over. He sputtered at the surprise of the water hitting him, feigning annoyance as he looked pointedly up at his companion, leering smugly over the rocks. Hound’s optics narrowed in confusion as Trailbreaker abruptly stopped smiling and turned his back to the fall.

Scrap! He’d been just a nanoklik off! Hound swam hastily toward the edge of the pool, standing on the edge and lifting himself to his full height, trying to see what was happening. What he could see of Trailbreaker had disappeared, meaning he had moved closer to the road. Hound could just picture the conversation they were probably having right now.

“Why are _you_ here?” Trailbreaker would say, ready to feel betrayed, setup, ambushed—all three.

Mirage would scoff, planting his hands on his hips as he answered, “Prime told me to patrol this area. Is that a problem?”

“A patrol isn’t the problem, it’s the patroller I’m more concerned about,” Trailbreaker would growl, neither of them even noticing that he was doubling his fists.

“And I’m concerned with why you’re here,” Mirage would shoot back impatiently, optics narrowing in a challenge.

Hound didn’t want to think about where it might go from that point. He had to get back up there and be their mediator, before—

A sudden scream, a higher pitch than the waterfall, accompanied a blurred form tumbling in a downwards spiral, hitting the rocks on the opposite side from where Hound stood before landing in the pool. Cursing breathlessly, he leapt back in, hoping to rescue the floundering form of Mirage.

“Raj!” he yelled as he halted beside him. “Mirage, are you okay?!”

The Towersmech sputtered wordlessly, hissing in pain and groping for the nearest edge with his right arm. His left arm he held close to his chest, but Hound took notice of the abrasion in the plating and the rock nearby flecked with paint and energon.

“What happened?” he gasped, scrambling out and helping Mirage onto land after him. Swallowing hard, he asked apprehensively, “Did Trailbreaker—”

“He didn’t push me,” Mirage cut him off stiffly, examining his damaged arm and grimacing as he gingerly laid his opposite hand over the wound. “He implied that I was scared to try it. I jumped.”

Hound blinked a few times, glad at the very least that Trailbreaker hadn’t done something stupid like _throwing_ the Towersmech.

He’d better keep his distance from both of them for a while, Hound decided reluctantly, so he could come up with another plan, one that would hopefully prevent any further, _greater_ injury to either of his friends.

—

Perhaps it was a lost cause, Hound thought dejectedly, not for the first time. The waterfall trip had been four days ago and as soon as they’d gotten back to the road and Trailbreaker had seen Mirage’s mangled arm, he’d looked away—not out of guilt, but even to this moment Hound really, really hoped it hadn’t been amusement. Whatever it was, it had caused Mirage’s EM field to billow out in murky, sinister colors and Hound had thought fast, maneuvering himself between the two.

He’d been somewhat more tentative when it came to picking activities after that incident, but even his more sensitive ideas had ended as catastrophes. Especially the events of last night, which had ended up putting _both_ of the stubborn glitches in the medical bay. If anything he was glad he’d spared himself the ‘luxury’ of joining them.

Despite that, he had a feeling he’d better visit them before they were at each other’s throats and Ratchet had to take action. No one liked it when Ratchet was forced to do that, particularly when he was in his med bay and had his vast array of tools to choose from for the task of beating someone.

The med bay doors were locked and those inside weren’t shouting as they could have been, but even from the outside Hound could hear the contempt between them. Pursing his lips, he lifted himself high enough to see through the window panels. The lights were dimmed, but Hound saw that Ratchet’s expression was extraordinarily calm while his patients were berating each other—which meant that the medic had likely deactivated his audials.

Groaning softly, Hound tuned his own in on the conversation.

“…You were such a piston-head last night,” Trailbreaker snapped. “How could you talk to Hound that way?”

“Oh, _now_ you’re defending him?” Mirage hissed, sipping his bland low-grade energon cube before waving a disdainful hand. “Last night you just sat there like a lump and let him take it! He’s not some turbo-puppy for you to shield!”

Visor darkening, Trailbreaker bristled, setting aside his own cube and doubling his fists. “He’s not one for you to _hunt_ either.”

Mirage rolled his optics toward the ceiling. “You’re still upset about the zoo, aren’t you?”

Hound flinched at the reference. He had come up with that activity the day after the waterfall, hoping that watching all the animals live in relative peace would inspire some in their own lives. Of course, no such luck.

“Do you blame me?” Trailbreaker spat. “How could it be any fun with you making constant remarks about what easy prey they would be?! ‘Oh, look at me, I’m Mirage and I’m so great I could take on all these bears and an alligator and a lion at once!’”

Scoffing, Mirage shot back, “At least thinking of that was more interesting than what you were busy doing—‘I’m Trailbreaker and look, I’m a better friend and oh-so-sensitive because I’ve just now decided that Hound needs to be trapped in an inescapable hug!’”

“He did, because you brought him to tears! Did you really think he would want to hear how you would kill every animal if you had the chance?!”

“Says the one who casually makes the same sort of conversation about Decepticons.”

“Of course I do! We’re in a _war_ , not on your pretty Towersmech campus! But wouldn’t you like to be there so you can drop the act of a pacifist and kill all those beautiful creatures?”

“ _I’m_ the one acting?!”

They were rapidly heading into dangerous territory, but it gripped Hound right then just how tired he was of standing between them. Maybe if they both hurt each other’s feelings badly enough, if they _saw_ how much they hurt each other, they could come to an agreement about their standing. He was almost disappointed when Trailbreaker did the predictable thing, redirecting the subject back to his opponent.

“And I guess you thought of us as your ferrets to be hunted during the paintball match?!”

The day before yesterday, Hound had made the great mistake of suggesting a paintball match, not only for his friends to wear themselves out on their competitive spirits but to stir up some sportsmechship. To his dismay, they had focused their efforts solely on each other, using borderline-unfair methods and cheap shots.

Insistent, Hound had created holograms of himself, having them run as easy targets through the field. Neither Mirage nor Trailbreaker had wanted Hound to know they were specifically pursuing each other, so they’d both taken the bait, firing at several of the holograms as they ran past.

What Hound had failed to realize, however, is that this had only increasingly aggravated them—particularly because their shots had slipped through the holograms and had hit each other. Both had stormed off, dripping paint, before Hound could even recall all of his projections.

“I prefer turbo-foxes over ferrets, thank you,” Mirage snarked.

“Hunting your own kind now?” At Mirage’s confused frown, Trailbreaker growled, “That’s all you are, Towersmech: a fox sticking his high and mighty nose where it shouldn’t be if it wants to keep it.”

“Are you threatening me?” Mirage actually sounded quite surprised as he asked.

“You bet. You need to leave Hound alone.” Trailbreaker’s visor was nearly turning lavender, betraying his depth of emotion on the matter as he continued harshly, “If he’s so ‘inconsiderate, mindless, and futile’ as you claimed last night.”

Mirage’s mouth opened but for a long minute no words left it. “Did I…really say that?” he asked, his voice lowering enough that Hound almost didn’t catch it.

The words had stung, of course, but Hound had understood that Mirage was just thinking irrationally, because of his ‘great idea’ of last night. Sighing, he pressed his chamfron against the bay doors, remembering how he’d felt as though nowhere was a safe place to take them. Therefore he had suggested something that, to him, was as simple as he was going to get it: a night in, watching a movie and having a little high-grade to keep themselves cordial. Except neither of his friends had _only_ had a little.

Hound had seen Trailbreaker overcharged more often than he cared to admit and knew what to expect: lamentations. Teebs was a sad overcharger and that was that. Not until last night had he seen Mirage this way and what he’d discovered was that the worst came out in his other friend. The Towersmech became everything Trailbreaker thought he was: a cynical, disparaging, and contemptuous jerk.

He’d spent most of the time critiquing the movie until he finally had the idea to turn that negativity on Hound, since he’d picked the apparently awful feature. He’d gone off on a rant that Hound simply didn’t know when to quit and that he ought to accept that there likely wasn’t a chance that all three of them would ever be friends. But from the looks of it, Mirage didn’t remember any of that now as he and Trailbreaker suffered their hangovers in the med bay.

“Did I really say that to him?” Mirage repeated, more urgently. “Or are you just making it up?”

“Yeah,” Trailbreaker confirmed with a twisted smile which resembled more of a grimace. “You said it, Mirage. Apparently you didn’t like his movie, though I will admit, I didn’t either.”

Mirage squinted, running a hand down his face as he muttered, “What was it about again?”

“Eh, somethin’ about jealousy or whatnot,” Trailbreaker blew off the question. “But that doesn’t matter. It wasn’t bad enough to warrant what you said. See, I might have let you get away with it if you’d said it back when he showed us that paved mountain road.”

“I liked that!” Mirage protested. “It was better than the waterfall, in any case!”

Trailbreaker scoffed, waving him away. “The waterfall was awesome. If you hadn’t gotten hurt, everything would’ve been perfect.”

Mirage started to nod and then stopped himself, massaging his neck cables and commenting, “I believe that’s the first thing we’ve agreed on since Hound introduced us.”

Shifting uncomfortably where he sat, Trailbreaker shrugged. “Maybe.”

“The second thing we can agree on,” Mirage continued, “is that paintball was _atrocious_.”

At that Trailbreaker couldn’t help but crack a grin, hiding it behind his energon cube as he sipped. “Yep. I spent about an hour in the wash-racks getting the paint out of seams in my armor.”

“So you were the one who stole all the hot water,” Mirage grumbled.

“Well, _you_ were the one who got all the paint into my seams in the first place!” Trailbreaker reminded him.

“Are my audials deceiving me? I think you just complemented my aim.”

Hound perked up then, poking his optics over the rim of the window and studying them closely. They were both…relaxing. Was he _imagining_ this? Was what he’d hoped for actually happening without his help?

“And what if I did? So long as it’s not anywhere near me or Hound, I’m alright with other Autobots having good aim.”

“Ah.” Mirage hesitated, folding his hands between his knees and squeezing. “I…don’t mean any harm to Hound. The very opposite, in fact; he accepted me just when I was thinking that no one else on this ship would.”

“Then that’s something we have in common,” Trailbreaker stated, leaning forward and mirroring the position seriously. “And as for you not meaning any harm, I’d like to stick around and find that out for myself.”

“Feel free to. I have nothing to hide.”

Mirage had just given Trailbreaker a greenlight to stay involved, Hound realized. At the same time Trailbreaker realized it too, straightening. He glanced off to the side and Hound quickly ducked so he wouldn’t be seen peeping.

“I…guess that means you’ll have to stick around too. So I can find out.”

Unable to resist, Hound took another look. Neither of them were saying anything further, but that didn’t seem to be a bad thing in this instance. Mirage was almost smiling and Trailbreaker’s visor had brightened to steady blue.

“Finally,” Ratchet sighed in satisfaction as he unmuted his audials, catching the attention of his two patients. “It took you two long enough. Now should I unlock the doors and let Hound squeal over your solid, calm conversation?”

“That traitor!” Hound whispered as the doors opened and his two comrades glanced at each other before they both scrambled to reach Hound first.


End file.
